YOU know best how unexpected your late Address was to his Majesty, who had contributed so much to the placing of most of you in your Episcopal Chairs, and would so willingly have believed you were of the same Loyal Temper you ex­pressed in his Royal Brothers Reign. How his Majesty resented it, I hope you will reflect upon, because you ought not to forget it.

I cannot but foresee that some, who have no kindness ei­ther for your Order, or as you are Protestant Bishops, may from this Provocation sharpen their Style, and expose you with no less severe Reflections than such as some have for­merly published against Dissenters from Church and State; but it is not my Design to pursue such Methods.

I doubt not but the Concern you have to preserve the Reli­gion as by Law Established, and the Station you are in, were powerful Incitements to you to shew your Zeal for the Reli­gion you profess, and to shew your Pastoral Care: But whe­ther in Prudence or upon Necessity you were obliged to take this Course, or use such Expressions to your Sovereign (who in all Respects might challenge another sort of Duty from you) is what I crave leave to Expostulate with your Lord­ships.

That your Lordships are endowed with a plentiful share of Learning, is not to be denied; and that you have here­tofore in Times of trial manifested not only your Loyalty, but your Zeal for the Person of the King, I will not dispute: But that in this late Ʋnpresidented Action your Lordships did so well ponder and consider all the Prudential Rules that were requisite to govern so bold an Ʋndertaking, is what [Page 4]many are unsatisfied in; since to some, and that no small num­ber of them that wish well to the Church of England, your Procedure is both adjudged Disloyal and Prejudicial to your Interest.

Your Lordships cannot but know, that it is the undoubted Prerogative of the King, to Summon and Dissolve Parliaments at his Pleasure: It is a Fundamental of the Monarchy never disputed but by the Black Parliament. And it is as much his Prerogative to declare for what Purpose he convenes them. This has been usually inserted in the body of the Writ, or declared in the Speeches of the King and the Lord Chancellor at the open­ing of the Parliament.

What then can hinder, but that our Great and Generous King, who is above all mean Arts of Dissimulation, may some­while before the issuing out of his Writs, acquaint his Sub­jects with some Matters he intends to insist upon in his suc­ceeding Parliament? None surely can censure this timely notice, as contrary to any known Law, but rather as an open Frank­ness of a Prince that consults the Public Good of his People abstractedly from the single Concerns of any Party; for by this timely notice mens Minds will be better prepared to consider the Reasons his Majesty lays down, why he wisheth and expect­eth a Compliance: Yet this neither abridgeth the Electors of their free Choice, nor can deprive the Members when convened, of their due Liberty of Debate.

It would be no small Fault in me to express the Motives which induced his Majesty to emit his Gracious Declaration in other words than they are composed in; and since your Lord­ships are unwilling they should be published in our Churches, I will here insert them.

We humbly thank Almighty God, it is and hath of long time been Our constant Sense and Opinion, (which upon divers occasions We have declared) that Consci­ence ought not to be constrained, nor People forced in Matters of meer Religion. It has ever been directly [Page 5]contrary to Our Inclination, as we think it is to the In­terest of Government, which it destroys by spoiling Trade, depopulating Countries, and discouraging Strangers; And finally, that it never obtained the End for which it was employed. And in this We are the more confirmed by the Reflections we have made upon the Con­duct of the Four last Reigns, &c.

In which it is obvious to all the unprejudiced, and those that are not Malecontents, that the great Design of the King is, that a true and lasting Brotherly Affection and Harmony may be conciliated amongst all his Subjects, how different soever in particular Sentiments of Religion; that the Brambles and thorny Shrubs of Discord may be stubbed up, which have so overspread his Dominions, and that by Freedom, Liberty, and Security from molestation in pursuing mens Religious Worship, they may be at ease, and encouraged quietly to pur­sue their several Vocations, either to live Hospitably upon their Estates in all happy accord one with another, or by the Encrease of Trade enrich the whole Kingdom; by which single Liberty of Conscience our Neighboring Commonwealth hath pro­spered to such a degree, that it is not to be wondred at, that a People wise enough to know their own Interest, should, by all the Arts they can use, divert the Subjects here from closing with the King in so publickly beneficial a Design, which to the shame of our weak Intellectuals, will be the inestimable loss of the Wealth and Renown of the Kingdom, if we readily and Vigorously concur not with his Majesties Desire. Besides, if an Unjust Peace ought to be preferred before a most Just War, this Method carries with it a moral Certainty, that when this Liberty according to his Majesties Declaration is Establi­shed by Act of Parliament, there will never be occasion or Ʋm­brage of disquieting the Government upon that account, which will be a Felicity our Fathers would have purchased at the rate of some hundred of Subsidies; since I believe most are by this time convinced, that the rigorous Constraint of Conscience was [Page 6]one of the primary Causes, whereby Ambitious and designing Men brought about the Subversion of the Monarchy, and the infinite effusion of Blood and Treasure.

I foresee your Lordships will object, That Two Parlia­ments have declar'd their Judgments against Toleration, and the late King of Blessed Memory yielded to them, against his public Declaration from Breda, and his actual granting of Indulgence afterward, and his Resolutions to adhere to it: But your Lordships know the Grounds of both. As to the First, he was won to it by his willingness to gratifie the Im­portunity of those, whom He and his Blessed Father had ex­perienced to be such Loyal Sufferers with and for the Royal Family; and the necessity of Supplies may well be judg'd to have constrain'd him to comply with the Latter.

But hence it no ways follows, that a Vote or Address of One or Both Houses of Parliament should be any sufficient Ground for your passing your Sentence upon the King's Decla­ration, and his Dispensing Power: For where the Judges have determined the Point of Law, it, at least in your Lordships, seems to be Extrajudicial acting out of your Diocese, and to be the assuming a Power I never read that your Lordships Predecessors challeng'd.

To have declared it to have been against your Conscien­ces, or your Religion, had been something modest; but to Arraign the Legality of the King's Proceedings, in any re­spect, is something with the boldest: especially upon such a Ground, that One or Two Parliaments had given their Judg­ments against the like. For your Lordships know, it is not beyond our Age, and so cannot easily be forgot, that the Votes of the Lower House passed for a Bill of Seclusion of our Gracious King; yet I hope you will not think those suffici­ent to engraft an Argument upon for the Legality of that Vote; However it seems that you that are against the Dis­pensing Power, would insinuate, that a Vote of One or Both Houses is sufficient to supersede a Prerogative of the King, and will not allow that His Majesty may dispence with some Pe­nal Laws, which is one of the Flowers that not only adorn, but make up the Crown.

I now beg leave to enquire of your Lordships by what Prin­ciples of the Christian or Protestant Religion you can disobey the King's positive Command in reading or causing to be read his Gracious Declaration, no ways inconsistent with the Laws of God, Christian Charity, or the Practice of several Coun­tries? I have indeed heard of one Minister, who, upon King Charles the First's commanding the Publishing the Proclama­tion for Liberty of some Lawful Recreations and Exercises on Sundays after Even-Prayer, commonly called the Book of Sports, told his Congregation, That in Obedience to the King's Com­mands he had read it to them; but withal tells them, That God Almighty had given Command to remember to keep holy the Sabboth-day. But this Command of the King hath nothing in it against Divine or Moral Precepts: And your Lordships well know what Power the Laws give the King in Point of Supre­macy, which only his steadiness to the Principles of Justice, Honor and Generosity, hinders him to make use of. Now it is well known, that as Sheriffs, Mayors, and Bayliffs are the King's Secular Officers to publish his Civil Mandates; so Par­sons, Vicars, and Curates are, under your Lordships, the King's Ecclesiastical Officers, to publish, according to the Rubrick, what is sent to them by the King or their Ordinary; and as in the One so in the Other the Law inflicts a Punishment up­on the Disobeyers: And it hath not fallen under my Read­ing, that any Bishops have refused to obey the King's Com­mand, when by any Act of Council the King enjoyned the Clergy to publish any matter in their Churches or Chappels; but upon Refusal a severe Punishment followed, unless Pardon'd.

But I foresee your Lordships will offer in excuse for your selves, That this Declaration is against the Being of the Church of England as Established by Law; a Toleration being inconsistent with a National Church-Government.

To this I reply, First, That if it had been only for the Gra­cious Expressions in the Declaration relating to the Church of England, it might have been adviseable to have published it: Therefore, lest the Import of them should be forgot, I shall insert the words.

‘In the first place We do declare, That We will Pro­tect and Maintain Our Archbishops, Bishops, and Clergy, and all other Our Subjects of the Church of England, in the free Exercise of their Religion as by Law Established, and in the quiet and full Enjoyment of all their Possessions, without any Molestation or Disturbance whatsoever.’

This was a fresh Assurance of the King's Protection, and His Majesty's first Care; but being joyned with Liberty of Conscience in the Exercise of Religion, and the suspending of the Execution of all manner of Penal Laws in matters Eccle­siastical, this is the Mors in Ollâ. But some it seems must be flattered with hopes that they shall be Indulged, because Protestants; but the Scourge must still be reserved for Ro­man Catholics: Therefore, since They, as well as all other Dissenters, are to be Partakers of the King's Royal Clemency, the Declaration must not be published. This, I humbly con­ceive, is the true Ground of the Refusal, whatever is pretend­ed: However, from this partiality to Protestant Dissenters the Arguments for the Inconsistency of a Toleration with the Being of a National Church wholly vanisheth; for your Lord­ships do well know, that this Indulgence neither deprives your Lordships of your Dignities, nor robs You or the Inferior Clergy of their Possessions; nor doth it hinder the free Exercise of your Religion, but only abridgeth some Branches of Visitati­ons, and restrains the inflicting Penal Laws upon Absenters from the Churches, and impairs the Severity of Compulsion, and by experience already it is found that the Congregations of the Church of England are not visibly thinner for it; for Preach­ing, public Prayer, and the Administration of the Sacraments (the Essentials of Religion) remain untouch'd now that it is put in Execution.

I now beg that your Lordships will consider, Whether this disobeying the King be a likelier means to preserve your Lord­ships in your Places and Dignities, and the Church of England [Page 9]in its Lustre, than your Obedience would have been? You are not ignorant how Dissenters have press'd you, that the Loyalty of the Church of England was not much to be boasted of; be­cause since the Reformation (except in Queen Mary's Reign, and about the Indulgence in King Charles the Second's time) it was never put to the Trial by their Lawful Sovereigns com­manding any thing contrary to its Establishment; and how the Members of the Church deported themselves in that Queens Reign, is too notorious to be deny'd, when they first endea­vor'd the Excluding her from the Crown, and after by Wyat's Rebellion to have torn the Scepter out of her hand; and to what Straits they would have reduced King Charles the Second till he quit the Indulgence, is very evident: Therefore it hath been frequently objected, That if any King of England should abridge the Church of any of its Liberties and Privi­leges, it would instantly appear how long-liv'd its Loyalty would remain.

It is, my Lords, by this your Act you have confirm'd all their Suggestions, and that in a matter wherein your Consci­ences were not concern'd in the approving or disapproving the matter contain'd in the Declaration; for you were only en­joyned to publish it as the King's Declaration, not your own. And can your Lordships, upon sedate thoughts, think the publishing this was a Crime of that Nature, that it necessita­ted you to choose (as in such Cases is generally alleged) to please God rather than your King? Surely if the King had commanded any single Person of you to have read it, you would not have scrupl'd to have done it; but now, it seems, Nos numeri Sumus came into your Heads, and so you were re­solv'd to try who should be Supreme Governor over the Church of England.

Methinks I hear the sad and loud Groans of Thousands of those who are desirous to preserve their Religion, and the King's Clemency to the Church, and demonstrate their Loyalty to His Majesty, bemoaning your Zeal, that in a matter of no greater moment you should, as much as in you lay, dishonor the King before his People, bid Defiance to his Authority, Libel his Judges, forfeit all Pretences to his Gracious Protection [Page 10]of your selves or the Church of England, render your selves obnoxious to the Punishments which the Laws have provided for such as disobey the King, and not only involv'd your selves in this danger, but all the Clergy of your Diocese: So that all Considerate Men tremble to think what fatal Consequences this obstinate Act may produce; especially when they consider what great Sums the Clergy paid in King Henry the Eighth's time to buy off the Praemunire incurr'd by submitting to Car­dinal Woolsey's Legatine Power without the King's express Al­lowance under the Great Seal; and yet your Lordships have been so hardy as to refuse to submit to the King's Commands in a matter next of any thing to a Passive Obedience.

By this Act, as much as in you lies, you have endeavored to represent the Church of England in general as Disobedient, and consequently Disloyal; and if the King's Clemency and Mercy transcend not your Deserts, have absolved him from his Pro­mise of Protecting this Church, when, at least, so great a part of the English Hierarchy have led the Van of Disobedience, and loudly proclaimed you are none of his Dutifullest Subjects.

But the Mischief to the Church of England is not like to fall only upon your Heads: You have lifted up your Voice like a loud Speaking Trumpet, to raise a Disobedient, if not a Rebellious Spirit of Opposition against the King through all his Dominions; You have enflamed the Minds of the Multitude, to oppose the King's Desires, since they find you have been so hardy to dispute the Justice and Legality of this Act of State in his own Closet.

Your Lordships have divided your selves from a Loyal, Judicious and Religious part of the Church you profess your selves Members of; and we shall hereafter hear of the Distin­ction of a Fanatical and Loyal Party of that Church: for I hope you will find there is a Sound, Peaceable, and numerous part of that Church, that will Obey the King in this Matter, and own it their Duty to obey for Conscience sake, and be willing to live Charitably with their Fellow-Subjects of different Persuasions in Matters of Religion.

You have divided your selves from the whole Body of Dis­senters, towards whom tho' you express some tenderness, when [Page 11]the Matter comes to be Debated in a Parliament; yet they cannot but see how unwillingly you are drawn to any Compliance with them: whereas you find our Gracious King can forget and forgive his greatest Enemies, for no other End, but to shew his Innate Compassion of them, and demonstrate to all the World, that it is his Principle, That Conscience is not to be forced.

As to your fear that Popery will be propagated more effe­ctually by taking off the Test and Penal Laws, by this Act, I do not see you have made any great Blockade to it: For by this Ʋndertaking you have declared your selves Enemies to the King and his Religion, and to all sorts of Dissenters, and so have lessened your Interest with the King, and great numbers of the People; and by the joyning of both Powers against you, because they may justly suspect you hug the Darling Persecuting Spirit, what can you expect will be the upshot, but that both Parties will set themselves more than ever to keep you all under, and your Lordships wanting the King for your Head, and the Dissenting Protestants for your Assistant Brethren? If the taking off the Test and Penal Laws be carried against you, it will be very late to flie to the King's Mercy for your enjoy­ment of the Honors and Profits you now possess, and how your Deservings, and your Power to defend your selves may be weakned in the Interval of Time betwixt Now and a Protestant Successor, I will not undertake to divine. But that Popery can advance many Steps more, tho' his Majesties Gracious Decla­ration had been Published or such a Toleration as by it is granted, and now put in execution, were Established by Act of Parlia­ment, than it doth now, I think few unbiassed Persons will be induced to believe; since it will be contrary to the very Fun­damental Grounds of the Declaration, that any other Force can be used but that of Argument and Persuasion, and by the Pro­gress hath been made these four years in Reconciling Persons to the Church; that now we may make a very probable Com­putation how much may be effected in this Age, upon Persons so averse and resolved against the entertaining Doctrins and Ceremonies, their Education and other Motives have so pre­judiced them against.